“You love it you just don’t know it yet” mother told Michelle; Michelle kept whining and crying that she hated this vacation at grandma Melicia.  From the foreign smells of the natural manures, to running the dirt trails to the river for her afternoon baths  and riding a donkey brought her these new feelings that she had yet to learn.

She felt sick because these strange feelings constantly reminded her that she would not find a piece of home in Jacmel.

Michelle hated Jacmel. 

She hated that the houses were too far apart, the kitchen was detached from the house and that the rooster made sure he woke her up at the crack of dawn just to irritate her.  She even hated the symphony sounds orchestrated by the windy music of the banana field and the running waves of the ocean.  Maybe- Michelle was just missing her and her lively tween friends disturbing the bright city streets.

It has been 18 years and Michelle can still smell Jacmel each time it rains on a spring day.  There is something about the smell of the dirt after it rains that, brings her back to Jacmel under the almond tree. 

She used to sit on the wicker chair under the almond tree.  The small wooden chair that was so low to the ground that she could almost taste the sweet smells of the abandon old almonds that have fell from the tree.

Every morning after breakfast, on that little chair Michelle sought refuge while sucking on the sweet plum violet almonds.  When she was done sucking on the fruits leaving the hard core juiceless, she threw them in the banana field testing how far she could throw and if it would reach the ocean. 

“The juiceless core has a nutty secret” Granma Melicia told her one morning.  Her grand-mother told her that it was a secret she is passing on to her.  Although Michelle thought Granma Melicia was just an old silly country woman, Michelle did as Granma said.

Michelle laid the shells on a sheet under the shade of the sun to dry.  After the sun dried out the core of the almond shells, Granma taught her how to crack them open with a kitchen wooden gadget that they use to beat spices such as garlic, salt and scallions.  “I did not know there was a seed inside of them,” said Michelle.